Sunday, 5 September 2010

Population will mightily increase, and the earth will be a garden. Governments will be conducted with the quietude and regularity of club committees. The interest which is now felt in politics will be transferred to science; the latest news from the laboratory of the chemist, or the observatory of the astronomer, or the experimenting room of the biologist will be eagerly discussed ... Disease will be extirpated; the causes of decay will be removed; immortality will be invented. And then, the earth being small, mankind will migrate into space, and will cross the airless Saharas which separate planet from planet, and sun from sun. The earth will become a Holy Land which will be visited from all quarters of the universe. Finally, men will master the forces of Nature; they will become themselves architects of systems, manufacturers of worlds.

“The Communist might as well denounce one man for enjoying excellent health, while another man is a victim to consumption. Wealth, like health, is in the air; if a man makes a fortune he draws money from Nature and gives it to the general stock. Every millionaire enriches the community. It is undoubtedly the duty of the government to mitigate so far as lies within its power, the miseries which result from overpopulation. But as long as men continue unequal in patience, industry, talent, and sobriety, so long there will be rich men and poor men -- men who roll in their carriages, and men who die in the streets. If all the property of this country were divided, things would soon return to their actual condition, unless some scheme could also be devised for changing human nature; and as for the system of the Commune, which makes it impossible for a man to rise or to fall, it is merely the old caste system revived; if it could be put into force, all industry would be disheartened, emulation would cease, mankind would go to sleep.”

Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man, 1872

It is an interesting chapter actually, link is here: http://www.exclassics.com/martyrdom/martc44.htm. Reading this chapter I can see that he would be attractive to the pro imperialist section of the left. He certainly shines a torch on that position

I wasn't implying anything against Ken or any individual. I was trying to highlight the 'crude' determinism, the extreme determinism at play in Reade's thoughts. So I think you have to understand this albeit pretty ahead of its time viewpoint in the wider context. Having read the chapter I don't see how you could leave out how this particular vision of the future is to be attained. The quote implies that question, I looked for the answer and I am hostile to it!

It also reminds me of the kind of apology we see from some on the left in relation to the invasions of Iraq/imperialism etc. There is a conservatism at the heart of this I think.